within

What one looks for outside turns out to be present inside, but only to be discovered after a long detour of seeking externally, in all the wrong places...in a process of gradual reversal, the return of what moves forward in the shape of a circle, in which the end meets the initial point of departure.

Zhang Longxi

Source: Qian Zhongshu on Philosophical and Mystical Paradoxes in the Laozi

For the quantum theorists, the fact that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts underpins all reality. For everything in life, there is more to it than meets the eye. The real essence, and the real meaning, is deep within, which in effect often means both inside and outside the object we are observing.

There was a part of the mind - perhaps what we call the self-reflective or introspective function - that kept turning to look and, finding emptiness, kept sending the message that something was wrong. It was a reflex that had developed during the years of living in the illusion of individuality, a reflex we commonly consider necessary to our selves. We "look within" repeatedly to determine what we think and feels, to make a study of ourselves and track our states of mind and heart. Now that there was no longer an "in" to look "into", the self-reflective reflex was adrift, but persisted. It kept turning in and turning in, unable to come to terms with the fact that there was no in anymore, only emptiness.